'You know your problem? You take too much for granted. Take this Labyrinth. Even if you reach the center, you'd never get out again.'

After the party, Sarah was completely exhausted. She snuck across the hall to kiss Toby and then, upon reaching her own room again, slipped into her pajamas and into her bed. She fell asleep within moments, the first time she ever slept without Lancelot.

It seemed like only seconds later when she woke up. There was a hand on her head, softly caressing the length of her hair. She curled up into a ball, refusing to get up and wanting to sleep longer. The hand paused, but continued to touch her. Thinking it was Karen or her Dad trying to wake her up, she said with a tinge of annoyance, "I'm sleeping here!"

There was a moment of silence and the hand disappeared. She smiled to herself, satisfied and thinking that she had bought herself several more minutes of slumber.

"I am quite aware that you were sleeping, Sarah." A pleasant voice replied, a hand returning to her hair. "It is quite hard to ignore the large amount of drool on my shirt."

Her eyes opened immediately, and she pushed herself away from the warmth and the hand on her head. Unfortunately, that meant that she pushed herself backwards onto the ground and fell hard on her backside. She hissed with pain and looked up at a smirking, amused Goblin King.

"Am I dreaming?"

The words slipped out of her mouth before she could catch them. She had to be dreaming, she just had to. She won the game, and she never was supposed to be back!

Jareth shook his head, smiling smugly. "While I do appreciate the fact that you consider yourself to be dreaming when in my presence, I assure you that you are physically within the realms of reality."

"How did I get here?" She asked, completely confused and a bit frightened.

Jareth shrugged elegantly. "That is not a question you should be asking me. You unceremoniously appeared out of nowhere in my throne, on top of me, I might add. Not that I'm complaining, mind you."

"How is this possible?" Sarah asked, mostly to herself, putting her face into her hands.

Jareth cocked his head, looking at the girl with a tinge of sympathy in his eyes. She was obviously scared and out of her element, with her deliciously sinful red satin pajamas distracting him. "Why don't you get off of the floor, Sarah?" He suggested, very much liking the idea of having her warmth and satin pajamas back up against his body. But when he extended a hand to help her up, she quickly scuttled away from him.

"I don't want to get in a two mile radius of you, Goblin King." She said firmly, pushing her shoulders back defiantly.

Jareth raised an eyebrow. "I'd say it's quite too late for that, dearest."

Sarah's eyes travelled down to the large, wet spot on his white ruffled shirt that had felt like a pillow. "I'm sorry I drooled on you." She said rather bluntly and suddenly.

Jareth smirked, placing his chin on top of his closed fist. "That's quite alright. You are more than welcome to drool on me anytime, Sarah."

"I want to drool on my own bed, thank you very much." She said, frowning slightly at his suggestive tone. "How am I supposed to get home?"

"The same way you got here, I suppose." Jareth said before placing a finger on his lips and widening his eyes in a mockingly surprised expression. "Such a pity we don't know how that happened. Ah, well. Shall I prepare a room for you?"

"I don't want to stay here!" She cried out desperately. "I want to go home!"

Jareth tilted his head, thinking quickly. "Sarah," He said slowly. "If I was to offer you a deal that involved taking you back to your home, would you take it?"

"It depends on what it involves." She said suspiciously, still passionately upset.

"I will take you home and temporarily remove all your memories pertaining to me for a total of three years." He said. "But after those three years are up, your memories will slowly return and you will have to return here."

"Forever?" She asked.

"Yes." He nodded, watching her closely.

"But..." She was tempted to say 'That's not fair!', but quickly bit her tongue. An idea coming into her head, she straightened and started loudly, "But you have no --"

Instead of becoming upset or doing something drasticly desperate, like Sarah thought he would, Jareth cut her off with a laugh. "But, at the moment, I have quite a lot of power over you, Sarah. And I am being quite generous in allowing you the one thing that everyone wants -- time."

She frowned, defeated. The Goblin King grinned internally, knowing that he had just elliminated the only threat that had stood in his way. She would have no choice but to give in now.

Sure enough, she sighed and nodded after a moment. "Alright. It's a deal. But stay away from Toby." She added fiercely.

"Of course." He inclined his head in acknowledgement. While he was fond of the tyke, he had no use for Toby if he had Sarah. "Now, Sarah. Come here."

She hesitantly came forward and, when she was close enough, Jareth reached forward and pulled her up into his lap like he would a small child. He wrapped one arm around her waist, securing her against his chest, and took her left hand with his free hand. He pulled her hand up to his lips and gently kissed the middle of her open palm, muttering a few words against her soft skin. Sarah, while uncomfortable with the close proximity and intimate position, submissively allowed him to do whatever it was that he was doing.

After a moment, he let her hand drop to her side, and she didn't think to examine her hand after he was done with it. Jareth leaned forward and whispered softly in her ear, "Now say your right words, Sarah."

Even though she was exhausted, Sarah still knew exactly what words to say. Closing her eyes, she said obediently, "I wish the Goblin King would take me home." She paused dramatically. "Right... now."

Sarah promptly fell into a deep sleep, all memories of the Labyrinth completely forgotten. Jareth smirked triumphantly as he tucked his precious girl into her bed in her home. She wouldn't be able to remember her friends, her quest for her brother, or how much she detested the Goblin King until she turned eighteen. Then, her memories would slowly be returned to her, and he would be able to claim his Queen.

He congradulated himself for his quick-thinking. And, once he had Sarah forever, he made a mental note to teach her to think before she acted rashly.

As the Goblin King left Sarah, she turned over in her sleep, her left hand facing palm up to the sky. In the middle of her hand was a symbol that could be passed off as a birthmark in the Aboveground, but was a very clear sign of the Goblin King's property in the Underground.

There was a dark, peach-colored 'J' on Sarah Williams' left hand.

Blame my muses. This is their fault.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but this plotline that popped into my head three hours ago.